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news extract from Thestar:
“GEORGE TOWN: What was touted as Big Bang, Penang has instead turned out to be Big Blow, Penang.
The seats are up, the court is ready, but with the Kings of Tennis event, scheduled to be held at Esplanade here scrapped, organisers are looking at massive losses estimated at RM17.5mil (US$5mil).
The grass on the field near the historical Fort Cornwallis was dug up and the surface tarred before the tennis court was laid. Now, the organisers have to return the field to its original condition.
The three-day tournament was scheduled to start tomorrow and feature former world number one players like Pete Sampras, Mats Wilander, John McEnroe and Bjorn Borg.
However, the Swedish-based producers decided not to send the players to Penang after the local organisers allegedly failed to pay the promised funds.
Yesterday, the makeshift ticketing booth outside the Penang City Hall building remained closed while construction work had stopped.
State Tourism Development, Culture, Arts and Heritage Committee chairman Danny Law Heng Kiang expressed regret that the event had been cancelled.
“Tournament organising chairman Arianna Teoh called me on Tuesday night and insisted that the event would go on. But I am resigned to the fact that the international players will not be coming to Penang.
“The state government should not be held responsible for the cancellation as we only endorsed the huge project, and were not partners in organising it. The initiative was taken by a private organisation, with the state authorities only helping them get the venue,” said Law.
He revealed that the state had waived the RM2mil bank guarantee needed for the organisers to set up the structures at the Esplanade Heritage Site. A check with the Penang Municipal Council (MPPP) office also revealed that the RM200,000 rental for the usage of the Esplanade field has not been paid.
Law said the council would get tough on the organisers if they failed to keep their agreement to restore the venue to its original condition after the structures are brought down.
“Even with the cancellation, the organisers are responsible for the restoration of the field. If they don’t comply, action will be taken against them.
“The Kings of Tennis event is a good lesson for the Penang government to be more careful and we will not simply endorse future projects in the state,” added Law.
Meanwhile, Gerakan Youth Tanjung Division chief H’ng Khoon Leng, who visited the venue, hit out at the state government for not checking the organisers’ background before endorsing the project.
“It is a big embarrassment. I am also shocked that the MPPP allowed the organisers to destroy the field at the heritage site to put up the venue,” said H’ng.
Teoh, a former Miss Malaysia, could not be reached for comment.”
Sat, 24 November 2007; 2.06 pm.
Currently Im in Starbucks Amcorp Mall having my third toffee nut latte this week. argh. i gotta stop drinking this thing, it bloat me up but i cant stop having this as it is super yummy!
Anyway, just a short post for today basically will review on the latest huge tournament in Malaysia; the most anticipated & yet, quite dissapointing (I feel like it, others would feel otherwise i guess) match between Roger Federer & Pete Sampras.
Yes, I managed to get to see them up-close at Ritz-Carlton where they were staying & Roger r so damn gorgeous. flawless skin, VERY tall & take care of his fan VERY well. I talked to the girlfriend too!! Mirka, she look so distant & never smiles etc but when i tap her shoulder & asked her about photos etc she politely reject to take picture with me, i expected she would just trash me & say sorry i dont take pictures with fans but she did it with grace & manners. So yeah, Im happy 
Ok the game wasn’t that good & wasn’t that bad either. Pete still with his aces & cross court shots & so did Roger. Pete even ‘bully’ some of umpire & balls boy (Ha,ha) & everybody had fun watching the tournament. It was like ‘friendly match’ between the two as compared with Nadal & Gasquet match is more like a real tournament. Even Sharon expected this match to be boring. But it wasn’t that boring though, just not up to what we expected. ha.ha
Our seat was at the VERY last row of the stadium which from the seat, we can see a very tiny dot of 2 playing tennis. So as usual, I went down to the rm400+ zone & sat on the stairs with others professional or amateur photographers with their huge lenses & dSLRs. I, however sat there with my 3MP small olympus camera. Ha,ha. Kinda feel a lil’ bit embarrassed but I don’t care. However, I managed to get good shots of Federer & Sampras even with my 3MP digital camera. i SO want a dSLR! When i get a job later on I’ll save enough cash & buy one! SOMEDAY!
Yesterday late afternoon, Sharon & I walked to the 11th tennis court & had a final match together (Sad, Im leaving KL soon while she will be losing tennis playmate). We both sucks at the game. ha.ha. but had fun playing together. Hopefully we’ll still play this gentlemen’s game even after leaving university. sob.sob. We then had dinner at 12th College cafeteria. She had her yummy tomyam soup & im having my salty fish fried rice. Both still taste the SAME! ha.ha. Im SOOO going to miss UM. seriously.
I just bought Heroes Season 1 DVD & 2 other movie DVDs & TLC greatest hits (for 10 bucks! ha.ha. & it is original, mind u!). Will watch these soon & I got nothing else to do.
Piare just text me too hoping to go out with me tonight to the fly.fm party at 1Utama tonight. Too bad i got another plan tonight, if not i’ll sure looove to hang out with her. She’s fun! hehe.
Oh yeah, my internet account got suspended. Seems that I finished up my 350 hours in 20days. Ha.ha. Serve me well!
Yesterday (21/11/07) we checked out from the hotel around 10 am & took a cab back to MC. We were planning to crash in to the Cocktail Reception at Shook! as the occasion require invitation card to get in only. sigh.
We arrived at Bukit Bintang around 2pm & had lunch at Kenny Roger at the Bintang Walk. We then went to Pavilion & went gaga at Forever 21. ha.ha. Sharon managed to grab some skinny jeans & me some lingerie. By the time we paid our purchases it was already 5.08pm! OMG! We’re going to be late to do stalking & crashing party.
We were walking around the Starhill Gallery & looking for back entrance etc as IM SO sure they will not enter the building from the main entrance. I didn’t realize that there is a bridge connecting Starhill Gallery & Ritz Carlton!
So by the time we get to the entrance of Ritz Carlton, plenty of reporters, photographers & fans were already waiting at the entrance. I asked one lady tourist whats happening (pretend that i don’t know what happening, haha) & she said the tennis players going to arrive from the airport soon!
Yes, indeed soon was only a couple of minutes! Pete & Roger came in black merc.
Some huha going on when the press took pictures of them because somebody pushing the photographer & he was pissed off & making scene! Not a good image to potray Malaysian image to the number 1 tennis player.
The chinese friendly & helpful event management guy helped me to take pictures of Roger during the firsh photoshoot at the entrance! thanks to him! muah! We were then followed the crowd to the level 1 of the hotel, the conference room where press conference going to be held. Of course the same guy said fans are not allowed to enter. So we were just hang out outside the conference room. We chat with few other tennis fans hoping to get an autograph from the player & snap some photos. We chat with a good looking guy in bright green polo tee, lady with 2 daughters that managed to get Nadal signature & grab his bicep (LOL), young lady named Cheryl & his husband, super hardcore fan of Pete Sampras in grey shirt guy & others. We were chatting over the tournament, our favourite player & even attempt to get their autograph & pictures. It may sound silly but this is what the usual fans will do. ha.ha. the lady with kids has a guts to STOP Pete & get his autograph.
Pete wasn’t really into interacting with his fan as compared to Roger. Pete walked straight in to the Conference room, private meeting with YTL chairman & even to Shook!. I managed to walk next to Pete & asking his autograph but he was just looking at me with some smile but thats all. No autograph, photos with him etc. I talked to him when we were walking from the hotel to the Starhill Gallery bridge.
As for Roger, he actually stopped & sign a couple of autograph before entering the press conference & promised will go out & sign for us again. He take care of his fan very well! sharon managed to get her journal & tennis ball sign by him. I took a lot of pictures at every angle showing his cute face. He’s super tall in person!
Oh, on the way to the Shook!, i managed to tap Roger’s gf shoulder and chat with her!
I asked her can i take picture with her? And she replied sorry she can’t because if she take picture with me other fans will follow the lead etc. She’s so polite! surprising! Because when you look at her, she NEVER smile. Anyway, I said ‘alright, it’s okay. Can you say hi to him (Roger)? and she said ’sure’. I thank her after than and she & the rest of the guards went down to the Shook! area. I went down too, using the same escalator! seems like im part of the group. ha.ha.
anyway, i took some shots of them at the stage etc & left the building.
We drop by to the nearest starbuck & ordered my toffee nut frap & some sandwich for dinner. and thats all the excitement today. Glad that we managed to get something from the outing. SO it wasn’t so wasted after all (even after the disapointment that Nadal is not in Malaysia already).
I’ll blog again later for the Clash of the Times. got to go and sleep now. ciao.
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